Go Team E! CHaD kids make posters for Battle of the Badges benefit hockey game

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Michelle Kingstonmkingston@fosters.com

DOVER — While some children quickly covered their posters in pompoms, stickers, glitter and glue, Camryn Given, 7, of Portsmouth, carefully plotted out the poster she will hold up at the Battle of the Badges hockey game in Manchester in two weeks.

Camryn’s father, Chuck, helped her with the bubble letters that would soon spell out, “Go Team E!,” supporting the East team, made up of policemen and firefighters from Dover, Rochester, Farmington, Hampton, Rollinsford and other surrounding communities in our region.

The players, who spent the afternoon at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital’s CHaD center, are competing against Team West, made up of western New Hampshire emergency crews. Each team is playing to raise money for Camryn and other children who are patients at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the children’s hospital within Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.

As Camryn took her time coloring in the lines, her father said if people did not know she had a thyroid condition, they would never be able to tell.

“She knows about it, but it is not something that generally gets her down anyway,” he said, looking on at his upbeat, peppy and smiling young daughter.

Camryn is looking forward to the game when she can cheer on the team. Her father said she is a bit of a hockey fan and has joined him at a few Bruins games throughout the past few years.

“Having an event like this adds another positive element to the entire CHaD experience,” Chuck said. “It is more than just coming here, seeing doctors, getting checked out, poked and prodded. It gives her something to look forward to and it lifts her spirits.”

Camryn spent a lot of time at the hospital over the past few years with lab appointments, but now that the doctors have determined her condition, she is on daily medication and only visits the hospital about once every three months.

“Her condition does not effect the way she feels on a daily basis,” he said, adding that she is small for her age. “But, she is not a fast grower.”

On the other side of the room, Lt. Micky Drouin of Dover Fire and Rescue helped three-year-old Lucas Donnell, of Rochester, create a poster he can flash during the hockey game. Lucas has seen neurologists and cardiologists at the hospital since he was born, having had seizures and heart surgery.

Drouin has been teamed up with Lucas for the past three years, but has been playing in the CHAD fundraiser hockey game for each of the six years it has been put on at the Verizon Wireless Center.

This year, the teams are hoping to raise just over $200,000 in order to make the million dollar mark in total funds raised for CHaD.

“It is always one of those things where you never know, but I honestly think we will make it,” Drouin said of the million dollars.

Drouin has been raising money all year for Lucas and CHaD children, even hosting a kickball tournament just a few months ago. He has raised about $2,000 so far.

Lucas recognized Drouin right as he walked in. He continued to run around the CHaD center, giddy to be able to make a poster.

His sign read, “Go Micky!” and was made fairly quickly so he could spend time playing with mom and dad, and Drouin.

“This program is just awesome,” Drouin said, while rolling a toy on the floor toward Lucas. “Getting the kids involved, buddying them up with a player is just an awesome thing. It connects the players with what CHaD does.”

Natalie Martinez-Harrison, of Community Relations at CHaD, said the players toured their main children’s hospital in Lebanon, which helped them learn more about what CHaD is about and really help them connect with the patients.

Heather Donnell, Lucas’ mom, said the day at WDH and the game itself are great ways to do something fun and recognize the achievements her son has made.

“We don’t have to come here too often now,” she said. “So it is nice to come back to celebrate the good things, too.”

The hockey game begins at 5 p.m. on March 16 at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester. Tickets and donation information for the game can be found at www.CHaDHock ey.org.